This Saturday, if you’re like most teachers, you find yourself away from school, maybe resting, maybe preparing for the festivities of…
For Teachers
Using Their Powers for Good: Community Engagement for the Upper El Classroom
They’re taller. They talk a lot. They prefer the company of their friends over their parents. They are convinced that the world would be…
The Quiet Ones
Early in my career as a Montessori teacher, I had a three year old student in my class who would enter the classroom every morning,…
Teacher Talk: Comfort and Joy
You may feel overwhelmed. You may have too many things to do. You have a lot of people to take care of. You’re tired. You’re full of…
Teacher Talk: December and Self-Care
I think this will just be a continuing theme for a little bit: in this season when you are continually caring for everyone else, what are…
Difficult Conversations
Something is going awry. A parent has raised a concern about (enter any number of possibilities here: your teaching, your classroom, the…
Teacher Talk: Observers in the Classroom
Montessori classrooms enchant curious observers. How can so many young children engage so independently at once? How come everyone seems…
Toddlers and the Sensitive Periods
Montessori identified eleven different Sensitive Periods, and others have been suggested as our understanding of human development…
The Sensitive Period to Order, or Why Won’t My Kid Just Use a Different Spoon?
The Sensitive Period to Order, which usually presents between the ages of two and four, brings with it a whole new set of challenges for…
A Beginning, Middle and End: The Cycle of Activity
As the school year progresses, you’ll see the simpler, familiar activities on the classroom shelves replaced with beautiful, carefully…